PRIME MINISTER
FOR PRESS 17 DECEMBER 1978
NORMALISATION OF RELATIONS BETWEEN
THE UNITED STATES AND CHINA
The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Malcolm Fraser, CH, MP,
today said that he understood and supported President
Carter's statement that the United States and the People's
Republic of China had agreed to recognise each other and
to establish diplomatic relations from 1 January 1979.
The Prime Minister said that in these major matters there
were often two sets of interests. The first involved
the global situation, the strategic balance and relations
between the major powers. The second concerned the needs
of a region or of parts of a region. Quite plainly,
President Carter had no alternative but to give priority
to the f irst set of interests in these very difficult
negotiations. The Prime Minister said that North Asia was an area where
the interests of all major powers converged, and it was
most important for the stability of the region that all
of these powers should be in close relations. The exchange
of full diplomatic relations between the United States
and China would in itself be of paramount importance in
maintaining the international strategic balance. It would
also enable the United States to play a fuller and more
effective role in Asia and the Pacific. This would
require the maintenance of appropriate American power and
influence political, economic and military in the region.
The fact that China was now looking outward as never before
in her history, and was determined to modernise, and that
both countries had decided to enter into full relations, would
greatly strengthen the world situation.
In recent times, a great deal of attention had been focused
on Europe and Africa: the move to recognition by the
United States served notice that American policy in the Pacific
and Asia would not go by default.
The initiative came from a nation with global responsibilities
imposed on her by her own power. It came from a nation
responding to those responsibilities. / 2
2
The Prime Minister commented that the people of the
United States and China also had much to gain from the
normalisation of relations. For many years, the people
of the two countries had been denied the full range of
cultural, commercial and other exchanges. Each had
much to offer to the other in these fields, and the new
status of the relationship was therefore expected to
bring substantial mutual benefits.
The Prime Minister paid warm tribute to the statesmanship
of the leaders of the United States and the People's
Republic of China. Both President Carter and Chairman
Hua Kuo-feng and their governments had been determined
to overcome the difficult problems that had stood in the
way of the normalisation of diplomatic relations.
This had not been an easy task, involving as it did the
adjustment of the United States relationship with Taiwan.
It was in this area that the second set of interests came
into play, and in relation to that the Prime Minister noted
and shared the concern expressed by President Carter for
the future peace and well-being of the people of Taiwan.
He also noted recent assurances by Chinese leaders including
Vice Premier Teng Hsiao-ping that China would seek a
peaceful reunification of Taiwan with the mainland and
that Taiwan had a different social and economic system
which would have to be taken into account. Whatever
ultimate solution was achieved over Taiwan it was of
critical importance in the Australian view that it be
reached by peaceful means. 000---